Hello,

What do y'all recommend as a good length of time to stay in Sicily? We aren't really the type of people to stay in one city for a week - we loved Venice for 2 days, we loved Siena for 2 days, we loved Cinqe Terre for 2 days... we like to walk around and explore but like adventure. Is there a major difference in the cities in Sicily? If so, what are the differences? We love the food, culture, people of northern Italy, will it be just as great except better in Sicily? no?

I'd love some of your input! Yes, I've done searches for Sicily in the search box...

If you're going JUST to Sicily, two (or better three) weeks would be nice for a first trip. If you are covering many areas of Italy, and Sicily will be just one part pf your trip, maybe five days to get a quick taste of a few areas.

Yes, there's a "major diference in the cities of Sicily." This is not something that can be explained briefly in a one short post, but if you do some searches you'll find a lot of good info here about Sicily.

Sicily is completely different from northern Italy in terms of food, culture, and the ways of the people, although I've heard that the landscape of certain mountainous parts of northern Italy (I think someone said the Val d'Aosta) look a little like the Nebrodi Mts. area of Sicily. I'm not really a huge fan of northern Italy myself, and to me, Sicily is Mmuch more interesting. I do love central Italy. Sicily is not really like central Italy either, but I love them both.

Thank you!! Just curious, but why didn't you like the other parts of Italy?

I didn't DISlike any part of Italy, and I love ALMOST all of it, but didn't especially like the real northern parts. (By "northern," I do NOT mean Siena, Florence, other parts of Tuscany, Umbria--those are central). I was briefly in the lakes (that's "north.&quot Lake Como was very beautiful and restful (where I recovered from jet lag). I really disliked Stresa (on Lake Maggiore), and found some of the people in the tourist industry there (boat ticket sellers, tourist info office, etc.) incredibly rude, and the whole town was jammed with German tourists, so I heard more German, which I don't understand/speak, than Italian, which I do understand/speak.) I found the culture less appealing in the north. The people tended not to make eye contact so much, and tended to be less expressive and less animated and generally less engaged when they spoke. Milan is just too busy and too polluted for me. There are some beautiful smaller cities in Lombardy, but the culture is colder than in central Italy. I also don't especially like the food in the north--I hate white polenta, don't like cream sauces, don't like fussy bland dishes. (Note: Tuscany and Umbria are in CENTRAL Italy, not northern. I love central.)

Read my recent trip report. We took 15 days but you could make a good dent in 10. Good luck !